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Environmental activists glued themselves to the asphalt in dozens of street blockades across Berlin on Monday to demand the government do more to tackle climate change, an action condemned by Germany’s finance minister as “physical violence.”

“We no longer accept that the government has no plan to stop the destruction of the basis of our existence,” Carla Rochel, a spokeswoman for Last Generation, the group behind the protests, said in a statement.

The action was swiftly rejected by Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government, with spokesman Steffen Hebestreit saying: “We do not support such forms of protest.”

Around 200 arrests were made over the protests, Berlin’s regional interior minister Iris Spranger said on Twitter.

Campaigners launched their protests at the start of morning rush hour traffic.

They glued themselves to the street surface, halting traffic across the Berlin, including on the city’s busy A100 motorway.

Police used a drill to dislodge one activist who was glued firmly to the ground, an AFP journalist saw, leaving the protester with a slab of asphalt stuck to his hand.

Around 500 officers were deployed to secure the streets and clear demonstrators from over 30 protest sites, a spokeswoman for the Berlin police told AFP.

The protesters’ actions caused “massive traffic disruptions” across the city, Berlin’s transport information network said on Twitter, with police working through to morning to remove the activists.

Climate targets

The campaign group has in recent months carried out a string of protests, blocking roads and spraying public buildings with paint to raise awareness of climate change and putting pressure on the government in Berlin, a coalition between the Social Democrats, the pro-business FDP and the Greens.

Among other measures, Last Generation has called for the government to provide a “detailed plan” to meet the goal of a 1.5-degree Celsius global warming limit and introduce a general speed limit.

“We’re bringing the city to a standstill so the government moves,” Last Generation activist Raphael Thelen said in a video posted on Twitter.

Monday’s protests “exceeded our highest expectations”, the group’s spokeswoman Aimee van Baalen said in a statement.

Social Democrat Interior Minister Nancy Faeser told the Tagesspiegel daily she did not have the “slightest understanding” of the form of protests.

Faeser backed police enforcement action, saying activists would not be allowed to “walk all over the rule of law” with their protests. 

‘Physical violence’ – 

Finance Minister Christian Lindner condemned the protesters’ action, saying on Twitter that “no motive, no matter how noble, can hide the fact that the Berlin Blockade is nothing other than physical violence.”

“Those who want a different policy can found a party and seek majorities for their positions,” added the minister from the FDP.

The Greens, also part of Scholz’s coalition, likewise criticized the protests. The street blockades were “not productive”, Britta Hasselmann, the Green party’s leader in parliament, told broadcaster ARD.

Last Generation has signaled its intention to continue with the blockades over the coming days.

Hundreds of legal proceedings are underway against members of Last Generation over the protests.

Recently, a court in the southwestern city of Heilbronn handed prison sentences of between three and five months to three activists for their part in protests.
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With Russian troops occupying almost 20% of Ukrainian territory in Europe’s first major conflict since World War Two, Latvia, one of Russia’s Baltic neighbors, is reorganizing its defenses – reenergizing its volunteer force and raising discussions about reinstating its draft system. Marcus Harton narrates this report from Ricardo Marquina in the Latvian capital, Riga.
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Global military spending grew for the eighth consecutive year in 2022 to an all-time high of $2.24 trillion, with a sharp rise in Europe, chiefly due to Russian and Ukrainian expenditure, a Swedish think tank said Monday.

Spending globally increased by 3.7% in real terms, but military expenditure in Europe was up 13% — its steepest year-on-year increase in at least 30 years, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, or SIPRI, said in a report. Military aid to Ukraine and concerns about a heightened threat from Russia “strongly influenced many other states’ spending decisions.”

The independent Swedish watchdog said that last year, the three largest arms spenders were the United States, China and Russia, who between them accounted for 56% of global expenditure.

‘The rise “is a sign that we are living in an increasingly insecure world,” said Nan Tian, a researcher with SIPRI’s Military Expenditure and Arms Production Program.

Several states significantly increased their military spending following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, while others announced plans to raise spending levels over periods of up to a decade. Some of the sharpest increases were seen in countries near Russia: Finland (36 %), Lithuania (27%), Sweden (12%) and Poland (11%).

Both Sweden and Finland jointly applied for NATO membership in May 2022, abandoning decades of nonalignment in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. While Finland has been admitted, Sweden’s bid to join NATO remains stalled by opposition from Turkey and Hungary.

“While the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 certainly affected military spending decisions in 2022, concerns about Russian aggression have been building for much longer,” said Lorenzo Scarazzato, a researcher with SIPRI’s Military Expenditure and Arms Production Program.

“Many former Eastern bloc states have more than doubled their military spending since 2014, the year when Russia annexed Crimea.”

Russia also has increased its military spending. SIPRI said that grew by an estimated 9.2% in 2022, to around $86.4 billion. That is equivalent to 4.1% of Russia’s gross domestic product in 2022, up from 3.7% the previous year.

Established in 1966, SIPRI is an international institute dedicated to research into conflict, armaments, arms control and disarmament.

 
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Air pollution still causes more than 1,200 premature deaths a year in under 18’s across Europe and increases the risk of chronic disease later in life, the EU environmental agency said Monday.   

Despite recent improvements, “the level of key air pollutants in many European countries remain stubbornly above World Health Organization” (WHO) guidelines, particularly in central-eastern Europe and Italy, said the EEA after a study in over 30 countries, including the 27 members of the European Union.   

The report did not cover the major industrial nations of Russia, Ukraine and the United Kingdom, suggesting the overall death tolls for the continent could be higher.   

The EEA announced last November that 238,000 people died prematurely because of air pollution in 2020 in the EU, plus Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland and Turkey.   

“Air pollution causes over 1,200 premature deaths per year in people under the age of 18 in Europe and significantly increases the risk of disease later in life,” the agency said.   

The study was the agency’s first to focus specifically on children.   

“Although the number of premature deaths in this age group is low relative to the total for the European population estimated by EEA each year, deaths early in life represent a loss of future potential and come with a significant burden of chronic illness, both in childhood and later in life,” the agency said.  

It urged authorities to focus on improving air quality around schools and nurseries as well as sports facilities and mass transport hubs.   

“After birth, ambient air pollution increases the risk of several health problems, including asthma, reduced lung function, respiratory infections and allergies,” the report noted.   

7 million dead annually 

Poor air quality can also “aggravate chronic conditions like asthma, which afflicts nine percent of children and adolescents in Europe, as well as increasing the risk of some chronic diseases later in adulthood.”   

Ninety-seven percent of the urban population were in 2021 exposed to air that did not meet WHO recommendations, according to figures released Monday.   

The EEA had last year underlined that the EU was on track to meet its target of reducing premature deaths by 50% by 2030 compared with 2005.   

In the early 1990s, fine particulates caused nearly a million premature deaths a year in the 27 EU nations. That fell to 431,000 in 2005.   

The situation in Europe looks better than for much of the planet, says the WHO, which blames air pollution for 7 million deaths globally each year, almost as many as for cigarette smoking or bad diets.   

It took until September 2021 to reach agreement to tighten limits set for major pollutants back in 2005.   

In Thailand alone, where toxic smog chokes parts of the country, health officials said last week that 2.4 million people had sought hospital treatment for medical problems linked to air pollution since the start of the year.   

Fine particulate matter, primarily from cars and trucks and which can penetrate deeply into the lungs, is considered the worst air pollutant, followed by nitrogen dioxide and ozone. 
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Europe’s military spending grew at a record pace in 2022, reaching a level unseen since the Cold War following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, global security researchers said Monday.

The rise in Europe helped global military expenditures reach an eighth straight record at $2.24 trillion, or 2.2% of the world’s gross domestic product, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).

“It’s driven by the war in Ukraine, (which is) driving European budget spending upwards, but also the unresolved and worsening tensions in East Asia between the US and China,” researcher Nan Tian, one of the study’s co-authors, told AFP.

Europe spent 13% more on its armies in 2022 than in the previous 12 months, in a year marked by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The figure does not take into account sharp inflation rates, which means actual spending was even higher, the think tank said.

That was the strongest increase in more than 30 years, and a return, in constant dollars, to the level of spending in 1989 when the Berlin Wall fell.

“In Europe, it is at its highest level since essentially the end of the Cold War,” Tian said.

Ukraine alone increased its spending seven-fold to $44 billion, or a third of its GDP. The country has additionally benefitted from billions of dollars of weapons donations from abroad, SIPRI noted.

At the same time, Russian spending rose by 9.2% last year, estimates showed.

“Irrespective of whether you remove the two warring nations, European spending still has increased by quite a lot,” Tian said.

Spending in Europe, which totaled $480 billion in 2022, has already risen by a third in the past decade, and the trend is expected to continue and accelerate over the next decade.

The continent could “potentially” see growth levels similar to 2022 for several years, Tian said.

After declining sharply in the 1990s, global military expenditure has been on the rise since the 2000s.

The upturn was initially the result of China’s massive investments in its military, which was then followed by renewed tensions with Russia after its annexation of Crimea in 2014.

US, China account for half

The US alone accounted for 39% of global military expenditure. Together with China, which came in second at 13%, the two nations accounted for more than half of the world’s military spending.

Those next in line lagged far behind, with Russia at 3.9 percent, India at 3.6% and Saudi Arabia at 3.3%.

“China has been increasingly investing in its naval forces as a way to expand its reach to Taiwan of course, then further out than the South China Sea,” Tian said.

Japan, as well as Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam and Australia are all following the trend.

Britain is the top spender in Europe, coming in sixth place overall and accounting for 3.1% of global expenditures, ahead of Germany at 2.5% and France at 2.4% — figures which include donations to Ukraine.

Britain, Ukraine’s second-biggest donor behind the United States, “spends more than France and Germany. It also gave more military aid than France and Germany,” said Tian.

Countries like Poland, the Netherlands and Sweden were among the European countries that increased their military investments the most during the past decade.

Modern and costly weapons also explain some spending hikes, as in the case of Finland which last year purchased 64 US F-35 fighter jets.
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About 10,000 people bearing torches on Sunday night marched through Armenia’s capital to commemorate the estimated 1.5 million Armenians killed by Ottoman Turks more than a century ago.

The march from a central square to a sprawling memorial complex began with activists burning the flags of Turkey and Azerbaijan. Tensions between Armenia and Azerbaijan have spiraled in recent months since the blockage of the road leading to the ethnic Armenian region of Nagorno-Karabakh within Azerbaijan.

Historians estimate that, in the last days of the Ottoman Empire, up to 1.5 million Armenians were killed by Ottoman Turks in what is widely regarded as the first genocide of the 20th century.

Armenians have long pushed for the deaths to be recognized as genocide.

While Turkey concedes that many died in that era, the country has rejected the term genocide, saying the death toll is inflated and the deaths resulted from civil unrest during the Ottoman Empire’s collapse.

Armenia on Monday formally observes Genocide Remembrance Day, marking the start of the killings in 1915.
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Kelvin Kiptum collapsed to the ground after winning the London Marathon on Sunday and recording the second fastest time in history over the distance.

The 23-year-old Kenyan runner set the course record with a time of 2 hours, 1 minute, 25 seconds, missing out on Eliud Kipchoge’s world record by 16 seconds.

“I am so happy with the result,” said Kiptum. “I don’t know what to say right now, I am just grateful. The course felt good, there was a bit of rain around halfway but it was OK.

“I enjoy doing the marathons, it is good preparation for me. I loved it, I am very happy.”

In the women’s race, Sifan Hassan completed a stunning comeback to win on her marathon debut after appearing to be injured part way through.

In what was long distance great Mo Farah’s final marathon, defending champion Amos Kipruto and world champion Tamirat Tola were also among the elite men’s field that Kiptum left behind.

Farah, 40, finished ninth with a time of 2:10:28.

Hassan won the women’s elite race in dramatic fashion in what was billed as possibly the strongest field ever.

The Ethiopian-born Dutch athlete triumphed despite falling off the pace and clutching her hip around the 15-mile mark.

The 30-year-old 5,000 and 10,000-meter Olympic champion then reeled in the leaders with three miles to go.

Hassan also overcame making a mess of collecting a drink from a water station, and even offered last year’s winner, Yalemzerf Yehualaw, a gulp from her bottle.

Hassan pulled away from Alemu Megertu and reigning Olympic champion Peres Jepchirchir in a sprint finish along The Mall, coming home in 2:18:33.

“I never thought I would finish a marathon and here I am winning it,” said Hassan. “I had a problem with my hip, which made me stop. But it started to feel a little bit better. And then I missed one of the drinks stations! I didn’t practice that part of the race because I have been fasting and so that was quite difficult.”

Earlier, women’s world record holder Brigid Kosgei was forced to pull out less than four minutes after the start.

The Kenyan runner came into the race with injury concerns and looked in visible discomfort early on.

Kosgei, who holds the women’s record of 2:14:04 limped to the sidewalk after around 3 minutes. She then bent down to untie the laces on her running shoes and signaled that her race was over.

The marathon returned to its traditional April slot after three years of being staged in October due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

A record 48,000 people were expected to cross the finish line near Buckingham Palace from a field of 49,675 runners who registered for the race.

The number of entrants was up from the previous record of 43,199 in 2019.

London Marathon organizers said they expanded numbers in an attempt to reach a cap of 50,000.

Runners set off beneath overcast skies amid temperatures of around 8 degrees Celsius (46 Fahrenheit).

Forecasters had warned there was likely to be heavier rain later in the day.

Marcel Hug won the men’s wheelchair race for the third time in a row, achieving the feat just six days after winning the Boston Marathon.

The Swiss racer won for the fifth time in London and beat his own course record with a time of 1:23:44.

Australia’s Madison de Rozario won her second women’s wheelchair race in a time 1:38:51.
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With the peak tourism season setting in, Greece is bracing for a record number of arrivals and is welcoming back Chinese tourists. The warm feelings follow a period of discontent due to COVID-19 pandemic restrictions placed on travelers from China for the past three years, and other issues.

On the cobblestone streets of Athens, tavern owner Spiros Bairaktaris spreads his arms wide open, welcoming news of what is already called the Chinese return.

He says, “We await them with great love, from the bottom of our hearts. We want to host them, to feed them, to offer all our services.”

All restaurants here, he says, are aching for their return.

While groups of Chinese travelers are just starting to trickle in, Greece expects the number to surge through the summer, exceeding the roughly 200,000 who visited the country ahead of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In recent months, a flurry of meetings between Greek and Chinese officials has helped ease visa restrictions. Direct flights have resumed, but also increased in number and locations in a strategy to boost inflows of travelers from China,

Tourism accounts for more than a quarter of Greece’s economic earnings. And with forecasts predicting more than 30 million travelers this summer, business and officials here say that the Chinese return will help stoke the engines of this country’s lackluster economy after a decade-long recession and the pandemic.

“In the past, we have seen that average spending from our friends from China was even double [that of] European travelers to Greece,” said Sofia Zacharaki, the deputy tourism minister.

Such sweeping feelings of welcome and enthusiasm are new.

Just five years ago and ahead of the pandemic, many businesses and locals said they upset with what they called an over-saturation of Chinese travelers. Greeks pointed to what they say was an over-commercialization of mass Chinese weddings against iconic sunsets on popular islands like Santorini.

They also say that on Santorini and other islands, law enforcement, garbage collection and other services were overstretched… due to the influx of mainly Chinese visitors. Concerns were also raised about reckless construction as the host islands sought to accommodate the visitors.

And many locals began fearing that Chinese and other visitors were posing threats to social cohesion.

Whether such deep-rooted concerns will creep up again remains unclear.

For now, though, restaurant menus are being translated into Mandarin, shops are being festooned with Chinese flags and hotel employees, are learning Mandarin.

 
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The U.S. government said it is “deeply concerned” by Azerbaijan establishing a checkpoint on the only land route to the contested region of Nagorno-Karabakh, saying it undermines efforts toward peace in the region.

“The United States is deeply concerned that Azerbaijan’s establishment of a checkpoint on the Lachin corridor undermines efforts to establish confidence in the peace process,” the U.S. State Department said in a statement on Sunday.

The State Department urged free and open movement of people and commerce on the Lachin corridor and also called on the parties “to resume peace talks and refrain from provocations and hostile actions along the border.”

Nagorno-Karabakh is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, but its 120,000 inhabitants are predominantly ethnic Armenians and it broke away from Baku in a war in the early 1990s.

Azerbaijan on Sunday said it had established a checkpoint on the road leading to Karabakh due to what it cast as Armenia’s use of the road to transport weapons, a step that was followed by claims of border shootings by both Azeri and Armenian forces.

Armenia said the checkpoint at the Hakari bridge in the Lachin corridor was a gross violation of the 2020 cease-fire agreement which ended a 2020 war.

Armenia called on Russia to implement the agreement, which states that the Lachin corridor, the only road across Azerbaijan that links Armenia to Nagorno-Karabakh, must be under Russian peacekeepers’ control.

Nagorno-Karabakh was the focal point of two wars that have pitted Armenia against Azerbaijan in the more than 30 years since both ex-Soviet states achieved independence. Russia and Armenia are officially allies through a mutual self-defense pact, but Moscow also seeks to maintain good relations with Azerbaijan.
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A 50-member Indian business delegation starts a four-day visit to Russia Monday as both countries seek to deepen economic ties that have grown in the aftermath of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

India and Russia are also in talks for a free trade deal, ministers from the two countries said earlier this week during a visit by Russian Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov to New Delhi.

In recent months, Moscow has become India’s largest supplier of crude oil as sanctions-hit Russia seeks more trade with Asian countries.

New Delhi has not joined U.S-led Western sanctions on Moscow or condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine outright but has been calling for a negotiated resolution of the conflict.

It is also continuing to step up its economic engagement with Russia despite Western calls to gradually distance itself from Moscow.

The Indian business delegation headed to Russia is expected to meet buyers in Moscow and St. Petersburg.

“We see opportunities in Russia and that is why we put together this delegation. It is going to explore markets in food and agricultural products,” Ajay Sahai, director general of the Federation of Indian Export Organisations told VOA.

He said that the aim is to double Indian exports to Russia to about $5 billion this year.

Trade analysts say India is trying to step up its exports to Russia to bridge a trade deficit that has become huge as New Delhi’s crude oil imports from Moscow rise exponentially.

While India’s imports from Russia have jumped fourfold to over $46 billion since 2021, its exports to Moscow add up to less than $3 billion.

But as Russia’s trade with the West dries up, it has been seeking products from India, including manufactured goods, electronics devices and automobile components.

“It is a windfall situation. We are getting discounted oil which is a huge advantage for India. Compared to virtually nothing prior to the Ukraine invasion, India’s crude oil imports have risen to over a million barrels of oil per day from Russia,” Manoj Joshi, distinguished fellow at the Observer Research Foundation told VOA. “And now that they are under sanctions, India sees an opportunity in promoting exports also, so that will be a double advantage.”

Russia, India’s Cold War ally, was its largest defense supplier for decades. Even though New Delhi has strengthened strategic partnerships with the United States and other Western countries in the last two decades, it maintains close ties with Moscow.

Addressing a business forum with Manturov on April 17 in New Delhi, Indian External Affairs Minister Subramanyam Jaishankar called the India-Russia relationship among the “steadiest” in global relations, and said that the partnership is drawing attention not because it has changed but because it has not.

Jaishankar said Russia’s resources and technology can make a powerful contribution to India’s growth as Moscow is looking more toward Asia.

“We are looking forward to intensifying trade negotiations on a free trade agreement with India,” Manturov, who is also Russia’s industry and trade minister said.

Indian exporters however say that issues such as logistics, market access and payment difficulties pose a challenge. “The opportunity is there to grow trade, but only time will tell how far we can exploit it,” Sahai said.

While Western countries want India to decrease its reliance on Russian imports to isolate Moscow over the Ukraine war, New Delhi has remained firm in maintaining its economic engagement with Russia.

“India’s message to the West is clear. We will pursue a relationship in our self-interest and we will go wherever our interests take us,” Joshi said.

“Yes, the West would like India to pressure Russia by not buying oil from them, but they have reconciled to the position that New Delhi has taken,” he said.
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Serbs in northern Kosovo boycotted local elections on Sunday in protest that their demands for more autonomy have not been met, in another sign that a peace deal signed between Kosovo and Serbia last month is not working.

The main political party in Serb-dominated northern Kosovo, Serbian List, called on Friday on the Serb community not to vote on Sunday.

“Except in some rare and very few cases, Serbs are boycotting the elections,” an official from the central election commission, who did not wish to be named, told Reuters on Sunday.

Serbia and the Kosovo Serbs are demanding the creation of an association of Kosovo Serb municipalities, in line with a decade-old EU-brokered deal with the Kosovo government in Pristina, before they take part in the vote.

Fearing possible violence on Sunday, the central election commission abandoned plans to put voting booths in schools and instead set up mobile huts at 13 locations, while NATO troops from Latvia and Italy, part of a more than 3,000 strong peacekeeping force in Kosovo, patrolled roads in voting areas.

Election officials in Zubin Potok, a municipality inhabited mainly by Serbs, were on standby in case any voters showed up.

“Whether anyone will vote or not we have to keep the doors open,” one election commission official in Zubin Potok, who did not wish to be identified, told Reuters.

The voting huts were guarded by Albanian police officers brought in from other regions after 500 Serb police officers, along with Serb administrative staff and judges resigned collectively last November in protest over the Kosovo government’s plan to replace Serbian car license number plates with those of Kosovo.

Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008, following the 1998-99 war in which NATO intervened to protect the ethnic Albanian majority, but Serbia has not recognized independence and Kosovo’s Serbs view themselves as part of Serbia and see Belgrade, not Pristina, as their capital.

Northern Kosovo is home to around 50,000 Serbs. On March 18, Pristina and Belgrade verbally agreed to implement a Western-backed plan aimed at improving ties and defusing tensions in northern Kosovo, by offering more autonomy to local Serbs with Pristina given ultimate control. But Serbs say the agreement has yet to produce concrete action.

“Democracy by force? No,” said Jovan Knezevic, a Serbian in the town North Mitrovica, on why he would not be voting. The Serbian community should have been consulted on whether local elections should take place, he said. “There has to be a compromise, there has to be an agreement,” he said.

Albanians form a more than 90% majority in Kosovo but are a small minority in the north.

Only one of 10 candidates in Sunday’s elections was a Serb after another Serb withdrew.

On Tuesday Kosovo’s elected prime minister Albin Kurti said Belgrade was intimidating Serbs from the north not to participate in the elections.

The European Union and the United States said last week they were disappointed that Serbs had decided not to participate in the elections.
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Planning for next month’s coronation of King Charles III, the first for a British monarch in 70 years, is being met with subdued enthusiasm in Canada, the Commonwealth’s largest country by area.

While some Canadians are eagerly awaiting the pageantry-filled spectacle steeped in centuries of history, most of their compatriots say they have little interest in the event and don’t want Charles as their king.

But Canada is unlikely to cast off the monarchy and become a republic any time soon.

“The monarchy is hard-wired into the Canadian constitution and just because most Canadians have little interest in it does not mean that the monarchy is on its death-bed,” said Cape Breton University professor David Johnson, an expert on Canadian politics and constitutional matters, in an email exchange with VOA.

Many Canadians, like their American neighbors, are fascinated by not only the pageantry but also the tabloid-worthy drama that surrounds the royal family. But unlike the United States, which threw off royal rule in 1776, Canada still recognizes the king or queen of England as its head of state.

Many see monarchy as dated

While the inhabitants of Windsor Castle have no role in day-to-day governance in Canada, the monarchy is embedded in its institutions, with the face of the ruling monarch adorning its currency. The monarch’s representative, known as the governor general, presides over the annual opening of Parliament, and lieutenant governors perform similar ceremonial duties in each of the 10 provinces.

But Canadians are increasingly seeing that legacy of colonial rule as an outdated relic, a change in attitude that has been brought to the fore by the death of Queen Elizabeth II and the imminent coronation of Charles.

“It’s not surprising that recent polling on this shows the vast majority of Canadians to be uninterested in the coronation, the king, and the institution of the monarchy in Canada,” Johnson said.

He cited a Research Co. poll conducted in early March that showed only 19% of survey respondents wanted to see Charles remain as Canada’s head of state. Several other polls have produced similar findings.

“Some 44% of respondents wish to see an elected head of state in this country,” Johnson wrote.

“I am in no way surprised by any of these numbers,” said Johnson. “Only some one-third of Canadians generally express views supportive of the monarchy in Canada (and I am one of them) while the majority show little interest in it, and are perplexed as to why the head of the Windsor family in the U.K. is our head of state.”

Among those with little interest in the monarchy are the residents of predominantly French-speaking Quebec, who feel more affinity with France than with Britain, and the more than 8 million Canadian residents — accounting for almost a quarter of the total population — who came to Canada as immigrants.

Proponents for separation

One of the most outspoken proponents for cutting ties with the monarchy is Tom Freda, director of the advocacy group Citizens for a Canadian Republic, who sees the coronation as an opportunity to advance his cause.

“Anything that gets Canadians thinking about the monarchy is a good thing,” Freda said in an email exchange. “Because when they do, the majority always see it as an anachronistic colonial relic that needs to be sent to the history books.

“This is the conundrum monarchists face with an absentee monarch,” Freda told VOA.

“If they [royal family members] stay in Britain, Canadians will always think they’re British and symbols of our colonial past,” said Freda. “But if they visit (or are in the news for any other reason), the sheer ridiculousness of having a head of state who is a hereditary monarch and lives in a castle on another continent, becomes front-and-centre.”

Freda believes not much would change if Canada were to become a republic.

“Where there will be a change is in the enhanced sense of Canadian identity we’ll all feel when it happens,” Freda said. “This has proven to be the case in all the news stories on Barbadosi transition to a republic. Barbadians interviewed describe a renewed sense of pride in their country for taking the last step to independence.”

Some still loyal to royals

But any attempt to cut Canada’s ties to the monarchy would encounter constitutional hurdles and likely run into stiff opposition from the one-third of Canadians, especially older ones, who still revere the institution.

“Abolishing the monarchy would require a feat of political maneuvering that has rarely been seen throughout the years, requiring unanimous agreement among the House of Commons, the Senate and all of the provincial legislatures,” wrote Amanda Connolly in Canada’s Global News. Her September 18 article followed remarks by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau ruling out any such effort in the near future.

Canadian royalists, meanwhile, are heartened by an uptick in approval of Charles himself, who has managed to achieve a stature as king that long evaded him as Prince of Wales.

Historian Robert Lacey, who wrote the companion books to the blockbuster TV series “The Crown,” told VOA he could not speak to Charles’ popularity in Canada but said it is growing in the United Kingdom.

“Quite a lot of people in Britain say I’ve never had much time for Prince Charles but I quite like King Charles,” Lacey told VOA via Skype. “In his speaking, he’s developed an appeal that people didn’t quite expect.”

Johnson pointed out that polling shows the next generation of royals is more popular in Canada than the new king. “54% of respondents like the Prince and Princess of Wales, and 46% like Harry, 41% like Meghan,” he said.

Canada will host coronation celebrations

Regardless of public opinion, the federal government is moving ahead with plans for a day of festivities to mark the coronation, though the prime minister might skip the events in London.

In a March 16 press release, Trudeau’s office announced plans for Coronation Day celebrations that would “acknowledge the special relationship” between Canada and the new king, including “artistic performances, and special unveilings” at various Ottawa locations.

“All Commonwealth nations will be represented, likely by governors-general,” Johnson told VOA. “This will probably be the case for Canada, although this has not yet been stated. The prime minister has a Liberal Party convention to attend that weekend.”
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Brazil’s Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said Saturday he did not want to “please anyone” with his views about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, after provoking criticism in the West for suggesting Kyiv shared the blame for the war.

Speaking in Lisbon at the start of his first visit to Europe since being elected president, Lula said his aim was to “build a way to bring both of them (Russia and Ukraine) to the table.”

“I want to find a third alternative (to solve the conflict), which is the construction of peace,” he told a news conference.

Last week he said the United States and European allies should stop supplying arms to Ukraine, arguing that they were prolonging the war.

“If you are not making peace, you are contributing to war,” Lula said.

The White House accused Lula of parroting Russian and Chinese propaganda.

Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, who accompanied Lula at the news conference, said their countries’ stances on the war were different.

Portugal is a founding member of the Western NATO defense alliance and has sent military equipment to Ukraine. Rebelo de Sousa said Ukraine had the right to defend itself and recover its territory.

Lula arrived in Portugal on Friday for a five-day visit as he strives to improve foreign ties after Jair Bolsonaro’s four years in office, during which Brazil’s relations with many countries including its former colonial power frayed.

Bolsonaro did not visit Portugal, home to about 300,000 Brazilians, during his time in office.

“I wanted to tell you how happy I am,” Lula, standing next to Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa, told a room packed with government officials and reporters. “Brazil spent almost six years, especially the last four, isolated from the world.

“Brazil is back, to improve our relationship,” he said.

Lula signed 13 agreements on technology, energy transition, tourism, culture and education with Costa.

Brazil has said Portugal could be an important ally in helping South America’s Mercosur bloc to negotiate a free trade deal with the European Union.

“Small adjustments are needed but we will do it,” Lula said.
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France is trying to limit the diplomatic fallout after President Emmanuel Macron said Europe should reduce its dependence on the U.S. and avoid “getting caught up in crises that are not ours,” following a state visit to China earlier this month.

Critics said Macron’s remarks undermined the transatlantic relationship at a time of dangerous geopolitical tensions.

Macron was in Beijing April 5-8, alongside European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, partly to seek China’s help in ending Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. They were accompanied by dozens of European business leaders, who signed a series of commercial deals during the visit.

So far, China has refused to condemn Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine. President Xi Jinping again refrained from criticizing Moscow during Macron’s visit. Nevertheless, Macron later wrote on Twitter: “Long live the friendship between China and France!’”

In an official statement, China described the visit as “successful and rewarding with fruitful outcomes.”

Beijing has since vowed not to send any weapons to Russia. “China will not provide weapons to relevant parties of the conflict and will manage and control the exports of dual-use items in accordance with laws and regulations,” Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang said at an April 14 news conference, alongside his visiting German counterpart, Annalena Baerbock.

Taiwan focus

Just two days after Macron and von der Leyen’s visit to Beijing, the Chinese military conducted live fire exercises encircling Taiwan, which Beijing claims as part of its territory.

On the flight home to Paris, Macron gave interviews to journalists from Les Echos and Politico, in which he reportedly said the great risk Europe faces is that it “gets caught up in crises that are not ours, which prevents it from building its strategic autonomy.”

“The question Europeans need to answer … is it in our interest to accelerate [a crisis] on Taiwan? No. The worst thing would be to think that we Europeans must become followers on this topic and take our cue from the U.S. agenda and a Chinese overreaction,” Macron was reported as telling Politico.

Macron was questioned about his remarks during a visit to The Hague on April 12.

“France is for the status quo in Taiwan. France supports the ‘One China’ policy and the search for a peaceful settlement of the situation. This is, moreover, the position of the Europeans, and it is a position which has always been compatible with the role of ally,” Macron told reporters.

“But it is precisely here that I insist on the importance of strategic autonomy. Being allies does not mean being a vassal. It is not the case that because we are allies, because we do the things together that we decide to do, that we no longer have the right to think alone.” he added.

Fierce pushback

There has been a strong backlash on both sides of the Atlantic.

Marcin Przydacz, a foreign policy adviser to Polish President Andrzej Duda, said Warsaw was not in favor of any shift away from Washington. “We believe that more America is needed in Europe. … Today, the United States is more of a guarantee of safety in Europe than France,” Przydacz told Polish broadcaster Radio Zet.

In Washington, Republicans on Capitol Hill also strongly criticized Macron’s remarks. In a video posted on Twitter, Senator Marco Rubio said if Europe refuses to “pick sides between the U.S. and China over Taiwan, then maybe we shouldn’t be picking sides either [on Ukraine].”

Timing questioned

Macron’s timing was unwise, said Gerard Araud, a former French ambassador to the United States and the United Nations and now an analyst with the Atlantic Council.

“We are just right now fighting — all of us, together, behind the Americans — we are fighting the Russian aggression in Ukraine. And I do understand that for a lot of our partners, it was not the right moment, frankly, to raise the issue of our transatlantic alliance,” Araud told VOA in an interview Tuesday.

Others fear the fallout could be more damaging, as Macron’s comments undermine the transatlantic alliance just as the West tries to counter Russian aggression and stand up to an increasingly assertive China.

“The way Macron framed it made it sound as if it is a project of equidistance — of having sort of the same distance to the United States and to China,” said Liana Fix, a fellow with the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington. “And it also created the impression that it is the United States which is pushing confrontation, and not China. The feedback from China was very positive, because it confirmed Chinese thinking that it’s possible to drive a wedge between the United States and Europe.”

“From the perspective of central and eastern Europeans, these remarks basically confirmed their most fundamental fears: that Macron’s pledge for European strategic autonomy or more independence is just a pledge for more French power in Europe. It’s a pledge to decouple from the United States,” Fix told VOA on Monday.

Mending ties

In the wake of a growing diplomatic storm, a delegation from the French parliament visited Taiwan last week to reassure them of French support.

“This is very important for us to be here and just saying to all the people from Taiwan, we stand to you, we are close to you,” the head of the delegation, Eric Bothorel, told reporters in Taiwan.

Analyst Renaud Foucart of Britain’s Lancaster University argued that Macron was simply trying to avert wider confrontation.

“China is asking for a multilateral world. And Macron is coming and saying, ‘OK, if you don’t arm Russia, we can be France and claim that we are not a vassal to the U.S., we can claim that we are all different blocs, that we have our own sensitivities to the ‘One China’ policy of Taiwan, and all those things.

“But if you start yourself, China, to create a bloc with Russia — to start to arm Russia— then we cannot be the multilateral world. We need to be together with the U.S. And this is going to be our natural allies in that in that framework.’”

It is disingenuous to suggest that Macron supports China over Taiwan, Foucart asserted.

“At the same time that Macron was making these comments about China and Taiwan … there were military boats of France cruising the Taiwan Strait at the same time as the Chinese were having their [military] training,” he said. “So, the French have their own interest in the Indo-Pacific.”

US election

The United States is set to hold presidential elections in 2024. That could usher in a new administration less keen than Joe Biden to spend money arming Ukraine or defending Europe, said Araud, the former French ambassador to the U.S.

“For the moment, as long as the U.S. administration is strongly supporting the defense of Europe, there will be no question about strategic autonomy on European defense,” said Araud. “If [Donald] Trump is elected president, I think that the debate would be reopened by force. The Europeans who want to sleep under the American flag will be obliged to wake up.”
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France is trying to limit the diplomatic fallout after President Emmanuel Macron said that Europe should reduce its dependence on the U.S. and avoid ‘getting caught up in crises that are not ours’ after a state visit to China earlier this month. Henry Ridgwell reports from London.
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A State Department spokesperson could not firm reports the Sudanese Army has agreed to help evacuate U.S. and other nationals from Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, a State Department spokesperson told VOA early Saturday Washington time.

“We continue to remain in close contact with our embassy in Khartoum and have full accountability of our personnel. For their safety, I cannot discuss the details of their movements or whereabouts,” said the spokesperson.

The Associated Press is reporting that the Sudanese army said Saturday it was coordinating efforts to evacuate diplomats from the United States, Britain, China and France on military airplanes, as fighting continued in the capital, including at the main airport.

Sudan’s military said army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan had spoken to leaders of various countries requesting safe evacuations of their citizens and diplomats from Sudan, which has seen bloody clashes over the past week that have left more than 400 people dead. With Sudan’s main international airport closed, foreign countries have ordered their citizens to shelter in place until they could work out evacuation plans.

Burhan said that diplomats from Saudi Arabia already had been evacuated from Port Sudan and airlifted back to the kingdom. He said that Jordan’s diplomats would soon be evacuated in the same way. Egypt also has evacuated some of their personnel, while Japan is preparing to evacuate.

The State Department has said there are some 70 U.S. Embassy staff members in Khartoum, and it has been working to gather them in one location. State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel had a warning Friday for non-government U.S. citizens in Sudan.

“We have advised Americans to not travel to Sudan since August 2021, and the U.S. Embassy in Khartoum’s security alert on April 16th stated that due to the uncertain security situations in Khartoum and closure of the airport, Americans should have no expectation of a U.S. government-coordinated evacuation at this time,” Patel said. “It is imperative that U.S. citizens in Sudan make their own arrangements to stay safe in these difficult circumstances.”

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has been working the phones in the crisis, reaching out repeatedly to both General Burhan, the commander of the Sudanese Armed Forces, SAF, and General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, the commander of the rival Rapid Support Forces, RSF, known as Hemedti. 

Blinken called on both generals to uphold the nationwide cease-fire through at least the end of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr on Sunday, April 23.  Blinken also participated in a special ministerial session Thursday under the leadership of African Union Commission Chairperson Moussa Faki, with all participating leaders unanimous on the urgent need for a cease-fire.

The two generals are former allies who seized power in a 2021 coup but later fell out in a bitter power struggle.

Reports from Khartoum Saturday said sounds of fighting continued overnight but appeared less intense than in previous days. The sudden fighting that broke out one week ago has brought the city of 5 million people to the brink of collapse, with residents hunkering down inside their homes with no electricity amid bombardment and with marauding fighters roaming the streets, looting homes.

Sudan borders seven countries and sits between Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia and Africa’s volatile Sahel region. The violence broke out as an internationally backed transition plan to form a new civilian government was scheduled to take effect, four years after the fall of Omar-al-Bashir. Both the government and the paramilitary forces accuse each other of thwarting the transition.

The U.S. has some military forces stationed in the neighboring country of Djibouti, which experts say would likely be used for any evacuation operation. Experts say the Biden administration does not want a repeat of the hasty U.S. departure from Afghanistan.

Cameron Hudson, a senior associate with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told VOA that “I think we can’t sell short the comparison to Afghanistan, especially if we’re contemplating the visuals of Americans leaving a besieged city, when civilians are begging for their own lives, begging to be evacuated along with Americans and international staff. I think that’s a terrible optic for the United States to be sending in Africa right now.”
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